The sun climbed into the sky, its warmth spilling across the land — though not in Snow County, where thick clouds held it at bay.
As morning settled in, Alzer ate breakfast in the dining room. Before him stretched a long brown table, roughly three meters end to end, with the rest of the family already seated and eating.
At the center of the table sat his father, Count Alex Volheim III. The middle-aged man wore clothing far more expensive and extravagant than the day before.
Across from Alzer sat a beautiful brown-haired woman — his mother — whose appearance was startlingly youthful. He knew it had nothing to do with her natural looks. She used magic to maintain the illusion. Behind that elegant face lived a devilish, hypocritical old hag. He still remembered the moment in his past life when her mana finally ran dry and her true face revealed itself to everyone around her. Her name was Joanna Volheim.
Glancing to the side, he caught sight of a similarly beautiful girl. Her face mirrored her mother's almost exactly, though she carried a different kind of charm. Curly brown hair fell across her shoulders. She was fifteen, mischievous, and sheltered — exactly the sort of pampered young lady he had grown to dislike in his past life. This was his sister, Hannah Volheim, the so-called "little princess" of the Volheim family, and considered the most beautiful girl in the entire county.
He recalled how she had behaved in the weeks before the ceremony in his past life — clinging to him constantly, calling him "Big Brother," announcing with complete sincerity that she intended to marry him once they were both grown. Then the ceremony had happened. And she had looked at him with open terror and avoided him like a plague carrier ever since.
Alzer didn't particularly mind. He had no real investment in whether they built a good relationship this time or not. That held no interest for him. If it had been the old Alzer who had traveled back — the naive one — he probably would have agonized over how to change the ceremony's outcome, all for the sake of something as useless as "family."
There was no such word in his vocabulary. Every fool in his past life who had worn himself out chasing familial affection had simply been weak. He had nothing but contempt for those people. The warmth they had shown him before that fate-changing day meant nothing to him now. Beyond sentiment, his plans required him to become a powerful Mage again — and emotional ties to this family would only give his enemies leverage to exploit. He would not waste effort on useless things. That was the one principle he never bent.
Joanna Volheim set her utensils down on her plate with practiced elegance and broke the silence. "Little Al, your coming-of-age ceremony is only a few hours away. Have you finished your preparations?"
Alzer sneered inwardly. As expected — not a word about nerves. Straight to business. What a greedy bitch.
He understood her motivation well enough. The benefits of producing a Mage were enormous — not just for the Mage himself, but for everyone bound to him by blood. If he Awakened and succeeded his father's position, the Volheim dynasty's hold over Snow County would continue. The family had only held the Count rank for twenty-five years. With a successful succession, a promotion to Marquis was not out of the question — though Alzer knew it was far from simple. The existing Marquis families had spent over a century reaching their positions. Without a member ascending to the Royal Court, the Volheims would likely need another fifty years just to solidify their standing as a regional power.
There were only three paths to promotion. The first was the easiest in concept and the longest in execution: steady, loyal service to the kingdom over generations. The second depended on opportunity and luck — performing a meritorious deed significant enough to warrant a rank increase. The third, and hardest, was placing a family member in the Royal Court as a Royal Mage.
Alzer suppressed his contempt and put on a pleasant smile — the look of a dutiful son who had no idea what his mother was really like. "Of course, Mother. Since today is my Awakening, how could I neglect my preparations?"
"Good." Joanna nodded. "I genuinely hope you awaken one of the rarer elements — lightning, perhaps."
You're asking for the impossible. Alzer's expression flickered almost imperceptibly. Lightning element was something he couldn't have dreamed of in his past life. As a Dark Mage, lightning and holy elements had been his natural counters. The Grand Chaos Lightning he had wielded in that final battle was an exception born of extraordinary circumstances — not something his natural affinity could have produced.
"I hope so too," he said, and left it at that.
It wasn't entirely a lie. Lightning element was genuinely enviable — cultivation speeds that crackled like thunder, destructive power that surpassed even fire, agility that bordered on teleportation, and the Thunder Armor that only Lightning Mages could manifest. He had encountered a rare Lightning Mage in his previous life and been genuinely stunned. They were kings of the battlefield, pure and simple.
The rest of the meal passed in silence.
Alzer pushed open the door and stepped inside, his expression neutral.
The room was circular. At the far end stood a statue of a white phoenix, carved in pale stone. Across the floor, a red magic circle had been rendered in paint with careful precision. Around its edge stood the members of the Volheim family — butlers, maids, and, of course, Father Kuro of the Holy Church.
Nostalgia pressed in on him as his gaze settled on the statue. So this was it again — the room where he would Awaken and officially become a Mage for the second time in his life. He hadn't expected to stand here again.
"You're finally here," Father Kuro said, his voice carrying the measured calm of a man accustomed to ceremony. "Sit cross-legged within the circle and close your eyes. You don't need to do anything after that. Just relax."
Alzer nodded and did as instructed. He lowered himself onto the drawn circle, settled cross-legged at its center, and closed his eyes. Darkness filled his vision.
The door clicked shut. Footsteps arranged themselves around the room. Then the priest's voice rose, slow and deliberate:
"O' Queen of Winter, Empress of Ice —
Please bestow your blessing upon your believer.
In the domain of snow, you are the Great One.
In the domain of coldness, you are Omnipotent.
I, Kuro, shall become your bridge to Awaken your believer."
The moment the final word fell, the hairs along Alzer's arms stood on end. A chill entered his flesh and drove straight into his bones. After a measured pause, he opened his eyes — and found himself inside his Spiritual Sea.
Endless darkness stretched in every direction. Then, at its deepest point, a white light appeared, gradually taking shape into the form of a white phoenix. Its majestic radiance pushed back the pitch black around it, making the darkness ripple and shift as though greeting its queen.
But something was wrong.
The Snow Phoenix — or rather, its phantom — let out a sharp shriek of alarm, reacting as though it had sensed a dangerous predator. An instant later, cracks split through the fabric of the Spiritual Sea, and demonic thunderbolts tore through the gaps. They shot toward the bird at impossible speed.
The phoenix shrieked again and opened its mouth. A white mist poured out, condensing in seconds into a luminous white arrow. The arrow launched itself forward.
The demonic thunderbolts and the arrow met in a collision that sent shockwaves rolling through Alzer's Spiritual Sea. The world lurched. A wave of dizziness crashed over him, but there was nothing he could do. The moment the thunderbolts had appeared, he understood — the Book of Chaos, drifting somewhere in that mysterious dimension, had interfered. Whatever came next was beyond his control. He could only hope it wouldn't derail his plans more thoroughly than his previous life already had.
While he was still processing this, a black light emerged from the opposite end of the Spiritual Sea and took the shape of a book. It flipped its own pages in rapid succession until it landed on a blank one. From that page, a black demonic spear erupted, trailing plumes of dark mist.
The Snow Phoenix spotted it and cried out again, then spread its wings and flew at the book without hesitation.
The Book of Chaos shuddered as it registered the approach. The spear lifted from the page and launched itself forward. Within the span of a breath, the distance between them closed to mere inches.
The Snow Phoenix folded its wide wings around itself as a shield — but the black spear was too sharp. Its beautiful wings were sliced open. The spear drove through and punched cleanly through its neck.
The Snow Phoenix released one final, wretched shriek before its body convulsed, turned transparent, and dissolved. In its place, nine crystals of varying colors drifted gently to the ground.
The black spear trembled for a few seconds before retreating into the black book. The book itself then began to dissolve, piece by piece, until it faded into nothing.
Alzer stood motionless for a full minute, staring at the empty space where the phoenix had been. The ability to process what he had just witnessed seemed to have abandoned him entirely.
At last his gaze drifted to the nine crystals the phoenix had left behind. The sight stopped him cold — not because of what the crystals were, but because of how many there were, and what colors they carried.
The first four were red, blue, green, and yellow — corresponding to the Four Natural Elements: fire, water, wind, and earth. The next three were purple, white, and black — corresponding to the Three Supreme Elements: lightning, holy, and dark. The remaining two were colorless, which pointed to only one possibility.
The Two Supreme Laws. Time and Space.
"These are…" Alzer's voice came out barely above a breath. "The Affinity Crystals."